Methods and Systems for Corneal Topography, Blink Detection and Laser Eye Surgery

1. A method of blink detection in a laser eye surgical system, comprising: providing a topography measurement structure having at least one geometric marker; placing the topography measurement structure into a position proximal to an eye of a patient such that light traveling from the at least one geometric marker is capable of reflecting off a refractive structure of the eye of the patient; detecting, with an image capture device, the light reflected from the eye of the patient for a predetermined time period while the topography measurement structure is at the proximal position; converting the light reflected from the surface of the eye in the predetermined time period into image data; and analyzing the image data to determine whether light corresponding to the geometric marker is detected in the reflected light, wherein if the geometric marker is determined not to be present, the patient is identified as having blinked during the predetermined time.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one geometric marker comprises a circle.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein there are a plurality of geometric markers, and the geometric markers comprise at least two concentric circles.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the plurality of geometric markers are two concentric circles.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the structure is the cornea.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the light is reflected off the tear film of the cornea.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of analyzing the image data comprises performing at least one of a Hough transform of the image data, fitting the image data and measuring a goodness of fit, and image correlation with geometric marker template.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the step of analyzing the image data comprises performing a Hough transform of the image data.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the detecting step further comprises periodically re-detecting the light reflected from the surface of the eye.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the periodic detection corresponds to a rate of 30 Hz.

11. A method of improved imaging and ranging in a laser eye surgical system, comprising: providing a topography measurement structure having at least one geometric marker into a position proximal to an eye of a patient such that light traveling from the at least one geometric marker is capable of reflecting off a refractive surface of the eye of the patient; generating structural or position data regarding an eye of a patient; during at least a portion of the generating step and while the topography measurement structure is at the proximal position, periodically detecting with an image capture device, the light reflected from the refractive structure of the eye of the patient for a predetermined period of time; converting the light reflected from the surface of the eye for at least one predetermined time period into image data; and analyzing the image data to determine whether the light corresponding to the geometric marker was present in the reflected light, wherein if the geometric marker is determined not to be present, the patient is identified as having blinked during the predetermined time.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising re-generating the structural or position information regarding the eye of the patient.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising identifying that the structural or position data corresponding to the time periods during which the patient has been determined to have blinked are not accurate.

14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising removing structural or position data corresponding to the time periods during which the patient has been determined to have blinked.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the at least one geometric marker comprises a circle.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein there are a plurality of geometric markers, and the geometric markers comprise at least two concentric circles.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the plurality of geometric markers are two concentric circles.

18. The method of claim 11 , wherein the structure is the cornea.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the light is reflected off the tear film of the cornea.

20. The method of claim 11 , wherein the step of analyzing the image data comprises performing at least one of a Hough transform of the image data, fitting the image data and measuring a goodness of fit, and image correlation with geometric marker template.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the step of analyzing the image data comprises performing a Hough transform of the image data.

22. The method of claim 11 , wherein the periodic detection corresponds to a rate of 30 Hz.

23. An apparatus for detecting the blink of an eye in a patient, the apparatus comprising: a topography measurement system having at least one geometric marker, the topography measurement system for measuring a topography of the cornea of the eye; an image capture device configured to capture an image of the light reflected from a refractive structure of the eye of the patient for a predetermined period of time; and a processor comprising a tangible medium configured to analyze the captured image to determine whether light corresponding to the geometric marker is present in the captured image, wherein if light corresponding to the geometric marker is not present in the captured image, the processor reports that the eye blinked during the predetermined time period.